Hawks big man John Collins has grown increasingly frustrated with his role in Atlanta, multiple sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Although Collins signed a five-year, $125MM contract with the team in the offseason, his usage rate and scoring average (17.5 PPG) are the lowest they’ve been since he was a rookie in 2017/18.
According to Charania, Collins has challenged his Hawks teammates in the locker room multiple times this season, encouraging them to play team basketball. He has “felt his voice go unheard,” Charania adds.
Although Charania doesn’t explicitly state that Collins is a candidate to be traded before this year’s deadline, he notes that the Hawks are a team to watch in the Ben Simmons sweepstakes, echoing a Friday report from Marc Stein. If Atlanta is willing to make Collins available, it would certainly increase the number of trade possibilities open to the team.
Here’s more from Charania:
- Besides Atlanta, the Kings, Trail Blazers, Timberwolves, and Pacers are among the clubs still in the mix for Simmons, according to Charania, who says the Sixers don’t appear any closer to moving the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up than they were prior to the season. Philadelphia hasn’t been fining Simmons, since he has been participating in training sessions and team meetings and continues to meet with mental health specialists, per Charania.
- The Celtics have continued to convey to rival teams that they want to build around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown rather than trading one of them, sources tell Charania.
- The Pacers are having trade discussions about Myles Turner and Caris LeVert, with Turner drawing interest from the Mavericks, Knicks, Lakers, and Hornets, while the Cavaliers remain interested in LeVert, according to Charania. Rival executives tell The Athletic that Indiana values Domantas Sabonis very highly and seems less likely to move him.
- Teams would be interested in Rockets guard John Wall if he reaches the open market, but a trade remains very unlikely and Houston still doesn’t appear to have interest in a buyout, Charania writes.
- As the Cavaliers consider possible backcourt upgrades, building a deal around Ricky Rubio‘s expiring contract and draft assets is a possibility, says Charania.
It’s so pathetic that clueless Stevens just doesn’t get it JT & JB can’t play together they’ve tried and tried
What they should do is trade Smart the first chance they get then see if he’s the problem and if he isn’t they need to trade one of the others at the deadline
“These 2 can’t play together, so let’s trade an entirely different player”
ok..lol
All I’m saying is give them one more shot without Smart and if things don’t change then trade one of them at the deadline it gives them about 3 weeks
Yep. Brown is a far better asset than Simmons right now, but if I’m the Celtics I do that deal anyway, just because Ben is such a better fit.
Agree, J. Brown has more value but in terms of fit both teams could benefit if a deal is made. I highly doubt that C’s are doing that, even if the 76ers throw in some more value to compansate as they should.
Brown is underpaid
Simmons is overpaid
Celtics should trade one of their two young stars, Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown???
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Ridiculous!
Those 2 along with TimeLord are core!
Not sure I put the dude shooting 32% from 3 putting up 5 PTS in his 3rd season in with the others…
Not sure I put the dude shooting 32% from 3 putting up 5 PTS in his 3rd season in with the others…
You are 1000% right. These 2x dont get along in locker either. Half team think JB is the best guy & should get last shot & better defender & rest ofcteam in JT camp as better offensively.
Bottom line is this over 100 possessions JT & JB are -4.4 pts per gm..
Both players are Iso players that kill ball movement. Dribble dribble shoot. Neither player fits & can play off the other & they play same styles.
Brown better defender but older. Team resents Tatum lack of def and how hes the guy . The hero. Untouchable. They feel hes bad Defensively. Hint. He is…
R Williams is there only legit other piece besides M Smart who is solid defensively but is a role guy.they are 5 mil over cap.
Schroeder will ne dealtbalong w hernandez.
This Celtics team needs to move Jaylen Brown to get a huge return & get complimentary pieces to Tatum. Not overlap.
At this point Houston needs to understand the haul Westbrook got for the Wizards allowed them to play badly enough to get Jalen green. Though I don’t think Westbrook would’ve moved the needle that much.
I’m afraid the Hawks are going to have to come to terms with the fact that Trae, great as he is at what he does, cannot be the core piece of a championship team. He wants to be Steph but he’s not as consistent on either end, and doesn’t have the same leadership qualities (nor does Hawks ownership have the Warriors’ willingness to spend like mad over the luxury tax, nor do the Hawks have Draymond). Collins seems to get that, and is trying to get out. Obviously, “playing team basketball” is code for “WTF Trae”.
It will never happen, but if I’m the Hawks GM I quietly explore what teams will give me for TY.
I’m with you, said it last year and got ripped on here for even bringing it up
Fox and Bagley for Collins and Huerter who says no?
Fox and Trae seem like a pretty poor fit. But if you could ship Fox somewhere else in a 3-way, maybe.
ATL will say no. Horrible fit, you have to find a third team.
nothing the Kings have is valuable tbh. Haliburton and that’s about it. and no one is overpaying for him.
The one problem that the Celtics have is that they don’t have the right coach! This is what happens when you let players pick the coach! Nobody wants to say it but if we had Doc or Steven’s coaching this team, it would be much better! Quit blaming the players and start looking at the coach!
Sorry, Celtics do have a good coach. He and Marcus Smart have both called out Celtics’ two young stars for not passing! That needed to be done! Jaylen usually gets 1 assist. In the 2nd Knicks game he had 11 assists! Eleven!
Celtics are finding their way!
Celtics have a locker room issue. Tatum and Brown dont get along. There 2 similar and both iso players. No ball movement.
When ball does move one of them touches ,& its dribble dribble tough shot fade away.
These guys aren’t even 500.
Theres only 1 ball. Reminds me of bronze medal dream team.
I would much rather the Hawks not trade John. Also he’s right when he complains about guys not playing as a team on both sides of the court. He’s incredibly athletic, he’s an elite 3 level scorer & he plays hard every second of every game. He’s also a really good teammate/glue guy. I always say he reminds me of a much nicer version of Draymond as far as his ability to lead, be vocal & motivate. That being said, if Philly would only accept John as a centerpiece for a Ben Simmons deal then I might have to pull that trigger. Maybe something like John & Bogdan for Ben & (Green, Shake or Korkmaz) could make both teams happy
I mean if the Hawks truly do want Ben Simmons… and John Collins wants out… idk something like…
Collins, Reddish, CJ, and RoCo to the Sixers
Simmons, Furkan, Joe to Hawks
Tobias, Springer, and a 1st to Portland
76ers say no in a heartbeat.
Not enuff for a HOF !
Idk… while I like Tobias, hes been very inconsistent and that trade actually helps the Sixers financially next season with RoCos deal expiring. I do like John Collins. Not so hot on CJ, but they need a playmaking guard.
Also Cam is from here.
Portland isn’t getting much here. Giving up two starters and getting not much of what they need in return …
The way TY plays, no other ATL player is going to get consistent opportunities on the offensive end. Some nights yes, some nights no. On the other hand, no other ATL player can take a night off defensively, because the rest of the team has no margin for error on that end.
I suspect Collins’ knows all this, as he’s complained about it before. Doesn’t stop the frustration I guess, but he did re-up (perhaps with few options, but he did sign the contract).
The contract is to get paid, not to play in ATL, he can just be traded & get paid somewhere else that value more his talents!
You obviously don’t know much about contracts. You should think about not commenting on things you don’t understand.
#FreeBenSimmons